Public can chime in on Home Ranch money

Lolita Harper

Council members are inviting public feedback Tuesday on what

exactly should be done with the $2 million for schools the city

negotiated in the Home Ranch agreement.

Councilman Gary Monahan and Councilwoman Karen Robinson -- who

both sat on a committee designed to suggest how the money should be

delegated -- introduced the public to preliminary ideas for the money

at last week’s City Council meeting and sparked some lively debate.

Monahan said he wanted to get the discussion started so it could

be further analyzed during Tuesday’s study session.

The Home Ranch development agreement, adopted last year, called

for the Segerstroms -- the family that owns the development site --

to give $2 million in a lump sum to Costa Mesa high schools and

middle schools when the first building permits for the project were

drawn. Costa Mesa High School, which serves those grades, would

receive $1 million, and Estancia High and TeWinkle Middle schools

would split the other $1 million, the agreement outlined.

After much deliberation, the committee recommended that the City

Council form a seven-member foundation to control the $2 million.

Members of the foundation, governed by state open-meeting laws, would

include one City Council-appointed member, two community members, two

members from Costa Mesa High School, one from Estancia High School

and another from TeWinkle Middle School.

Monahan explained that one foundation would eliminate a struggle

between the schools for the same community financial support.

“Two foundations would make it competitive,” Monahan said. “This

brings the community together and gets them working together. With

both at the same table, only the most important projects will get

done for the best of the entire community.”

Audience members at the meeting last week said they were surprised

only one foundation was being suggested. Many said they were under

the impression -- from Home Ranch discussions last fall -- that the

money was specifically designated by the Segerstroms to go to the

individual schools.

Resident Robert Graham said one government-controlled foundation

would only add to an attitude of disenfranchisement. Graham suggested

individual foundations would allow families to feel more connected to

the school’s betterment.

“This is not some big conglomerate,” Graham said. “Give these

schools some control over their own money.”

Robinson argued the money was not only about the schools but for

the enrichment of the entire community.

“This was started through the public and the city,” Robinson said.

“It is very important to keep the city’s interest at hand.”

Council members negotiated the development agreement, which makes

them the custodians of those funds and entitles them to place

conditions on the money, officials said.